Wainwright’s hoping his dream doesn’t become a nightmare

Tuesday

Oct 22, 2013 at 7:39 PM

BOSTON — Call it Adam Wainwright’s “I have a dream” speech. Except it was more like a nightmare.As the starting pitcher for the Cardinals against the Red Sox in Game One of the World Series, Wainwright...

By JIM DONALDSON

BOSTON — Call it Adam Wainwright’s “I have a dream” speech.

Except it was more like a nightmare.

As the starting pitcher for the Cardinals against the Red Sox in Game One of the World Series, Wainwright met with the media on Tuesday afternoon.

In a pleasant, upbeat session, he described a dream he had, before the Cardinals clinched the pennant, about Carlos Beltran, the Cards’ veteran center fielder who’s playing in his first World Series in his 16th season in the major leagues.

“He’s been so close,” Wainwright said. “He’s been in three or four Game Sevens [league-playoff games]. So it’s really satisfying to get him here.

“I actually had a dream, and I told him this, that we lost. We didn’t get to the World Series. We weren’t the team to get him there.

“And he ended up signing with the Yankees. And the Yankees took him to the World Series.

“I remember the gist of the dream was he was sitting on a podium like this saying: ‘I’m so happy to be a Yankee and in the World Series.’

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“And I was like: ‘Oh, my gosh, this is a nightmare!’

“I woke up and had sweats and thought: ‘We’ve got to be the team to get him here.’”

Wainwright certainly has done his share in helping Beltran get to his first World Series.

The closer on the 2006 St. Louis team that beat the Tigers in the World Series, Wainwright became a starter the following season and never has had a losing record.

He was 19-8 in 2009, then 20-11 in 2010, when he finished second in the N.L. Cy Young balloting.

But he then missed all of the 2011 season following Tommy John surgery and wondered if he’d be able to come back to pitch at the same level.

“You do have those thoughts that creep in,” he said, “where you wonder if you’ll ever be any good any more.”

Although he returned to go 14-13 in 2012, he wasn’t all the way back.

“There would be days,” he said, “when I didn’t have any stuff at all. The fastball wasn’t fast. The changeup wasn’t changing. The slider wasn’t sliding. The only thing I had was my curveball.”

This year, however, Wainwright knew from the outset he was going to have a good season.

“I felt strong from the first day of spring training. The first throw the ball came out of my hand, it was like seeing an old friend you hadn’t seen in a long time. I never once had a dead-arm phase this entire year.”

That is evident in his record — a 19-9 mark and 2.94 ERA over a career-high, 241 innings.

He added two more wins in the NLDS against the Pirates and is hoping to pick up at least one more against the Red Sox.

If he can help the Cards win four more games, this really will be a dream season for Wainwright.